America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 135. Fishing

"Yeah!"

In less than 24 hours, the number of Facebook users exceeded 100 million, and the entire floor instantly went into a frenzy.

After months of hard work, the fruits of their labor have been borne, and many people have wept with joy.

A few tech guys ran to a corner and brought out several large boxes. They took out pre-prepared ribbons and horns and started blowing them.

Encouraged by the enthusiastic atmosphere, Eric strode onto the table, pointed to the sky, and shouted, "Give me 'We Are the Champions'!"

Instantly, the rousing music from Queen filled the entire floor, and everyone screamed and hugged each other excitedly.

The commotion was so great that it quickly attracted the attention of the people working overtime at Lionheart.com and YouTube on the upper two floors.

Upon hearing that Facebook had surpassed one million new user registrations, they happily joined in the celebration.

This is extremely good news. Facebook users will be directed to Lionheart and YouTube in the future. The stronger Facebook becomes, the better foundation it can lay for these two platforms.

Fitzheisenberg handed Eric a bottle of champagne: "Boss, to be honest, nobody expected this bottle of champagne would come in handy on day one."

Eric smiled as he took it and shook it vigorously.

boom!

With a crisp snap, the stopper flew off to who-knows-where, and the foam left a white trail in the air.

Seeing the jubilant crowd, Eric decided to cheer them on even more.

He announced loudly, "Every member of the Facebook group will receive a $1 bonus, to be paid along with next month's salary!"

"Long live the boss!"

"Yes!"

"Long live the boss!"

"Long live!"

Nothing is more inspiring than a direct cash reward; the cheers and roars nearly lifted the building off the ground, and even Uncle Ya's sexy voice could not be heard.

The revelry continued until midnight, and under Fitzheisenberg's control, everyone remained restrained and did not drink alcohol.

As the clock struck twelve, the screen displayed a value of 113 million.

If a company were to release data showing over one million users in a single day, even internet giants like Microsoft, Apple, and Yahoo would be astonished.

Entertainment companies venturing into social media—a combination that seems incredibly strange to anyone—has been surprisingly easy to achieve.

Most of the success is thanks to MGM's strong star resources. Stars lead the way and fans follow, and the public buys into it. Who can we blame?

Even an ordinary company, let's assume it's a more technologically advanced tech company, would absolutely not be able to do this.

How many people know your technicians? How many people in your management team know your managers? How many people know your CEO? Unless they are already successful tycoons like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

But can one Bill Gates compare to hundreds of Hollywood stars?

That's questionable.

The next day, before the appointed time, people began to arrive at their work stations one after another. Eric, Fitz, and a few other tech guys stayed there overnight.

He yawned and got up from the sofa.

As usual, I checked the backend data first. The number of users had increased from 113 million to 135 million. Such a rapid increase after midnight is terrifying.

Not long after, Fitzhesenberger walked up to Eric with a stack of magazines in his arms: "Boss, all the music magazines in the nearby stores have been bought up."

Eric was reading while eating breakfast.

After talking to MJ on the phone yesterday, he became interested in music reviews and wondered how people would evaluate him.

Looking at the magazines such as Blender, Revolver, Paper, and Pop Star laid out in front of him, Eric shook his head, realizing he didn't recognize any of them.

I looked through the reviews and found some music reviews of MJ's new song, but I didn't recognize any of the critics, including Eric.

Robert Chris Gog: "Rolling in the Deep is a song with a lot of ups and downs, and it's three and a half stars difficult to sing. In this song, I can hear Michael Jackson telling his own story."

"His voice is both ethereal and powerful. If you're a Jackson fan, you'll understand the meaning of this song. If you're not a fan, you'll become one."

"What surprised me even more was that I heard a change in this song. Jackson was changing his style. Rolling in the Deep clearly incorporates some elements of modern pop music, which I think is very beneficial for young listeners."

"So far, 'Rolling in the Deep' is the best song I've heard this year. It will definitely be nominated for a Grammy next year, and may even win Song of the Year. I would give it an A+ rating."

The music critic's comment took up an entire page, so it seemed very important. After reading it carefully, Eric looked around and asked, "Robert Criscog, do you guys know who this guy is?"

Everyone looked at each other, and after a moment a girl raised her hand: "Uh, if it's music, I know him."

"Tell me, is he famous in the music industry?"

The girl's eyes widened: "Boss, I wouldn't say he's very famous, but to be precise, he's extremely famous. If we're using the film industry as an analogy, you could think of him as the Hitchcock of directors or the Chaplin of actors."

"That's amazing!" Eric exclaimed in surprise.

The girl nodded very confidently: "In the eyes of ordinary listeners, he is the most authoritative music critic in the United States. A good review can help a record increase its sales by hundreds of thousands, but if it's a bad review..."

What does "ordinary listeners" mean?

"It's the broadest audience, people who like music but don't have in-depth professional knowledge and don't know how to distinguish between different genres of music, something like that."

Eric clapped his hands: "That's enough! The voice of the people is the voice of the professionals. The voice of the people can make money; what's the use of professional voices if they can't sell?"

He walked over and handed the magazine to the girl: "Help me see what level an A+ recommendation is?"

"OMG! A+ is the highest level recommendation Robert gave. Let me see whose song got an A+."

After carefully reading the comments, the girl was somewhat surprised: "Michael Jackson, it's him! This is really unbelievable. I remember he got an A- on his last album. The strength of this veteran king of pop is truly undeniable."

Eric glanced at Heisenberg.

Fitz shook his head awkwardly: "Sorry, boss, Phil didn't know MJ was your good friend. Everyone's been very busy lately. We haven't had a break since we came back from MGM, and we're not aware of the changes happening outside these past few days."

Eric shrugged. "Well, is there a huge difference between an A+ and an A-?"

The girl named Phil nodded vigorously: "It's very significant. If an album receives an A+, it means that every single song in it is a masterpiece. Note that it's every single song. Robert only has three albums eligible for the A+ award each year, and sometimes he doesn't even get one in a year."

"Better to have none than to have something of poor quality; many prestigious film festivals follow this principle," Eric said approvingly.

"Yes, if Robert gives it an A+, then any album that includes this song, as long as it's of high quality, will generally also receive an A+."

"The number of A- is much higher, around 60 per year, and a few bad songs or mediocre works are allowed in the album."

"In short, although it's only two levels apart, it actually represents a huge difference in skill level."

Phil continued flipping through the magazine: "Boss, I think I saw your name. They said your lyrics and music really enhanced 'Rolling in the Deep,' and that you were the foundation of the song. They praised you as a genius."

"No, is the Eric Cooper written on this sign your name?"

Feeling a little embarrassed by the girl's intense gaze, Eric reluctantly admitted it anyway.

"What! So you're saying you're not only a rich second-generation, but also a director and screenwriter, and a genius lyricist and composer?" The woman's eyes widened even more.

"Phil, your voice is way too loud, and there's no need to jump up like that."

When Eric realized that everyone's eyes were on him, even with his thick skin, he couldn't help but blush slightly.

"My goodness, boss, I really admire you! These people probably don't know that you're also an internet genius."

Noticing something amiss in the other person's gaze—it seemed overly enthusiastic—Eric coughed a few times and said loudly, "Listen up, everyone! The relationship between Facebook, myself, and MGM is currently classified as confidential and strictly prohibited from being leaked."

"Oh, and our user numbers also need to be kept strictly confidential. I don't care about media speculation, but if I find out it was leaked by an insider, then I'm sorry, understand?"

Looking around, everyone nodded solemnly.

If it's a small team, even if it only has 100,000 users a day, let alone a million, it still needs to spread the word as soon as possible.

The goal is twofold: to attract new users, but more importantly, to attract the attention of large companies or investment funds.

The former can be acquired at a high price, and then resold to become a billionaire.

The latter will bring in funding, allowing the team to grow and become stronger.

However, these are precisely the two things that Eric is currently trying to avoid.

He lacks money, but he doesn't lack money to develop Facebook. He has to make fewer movies and get Facebook up and running first.

He was worried about being acquired by large companies, and even more worried that if the acquisition failed, he would face strong competitors or technological blockade.

After all, Facebook and AK Films are companies with completely different natures.

Eric from AK Films could open 10 more locations without any problem, because those big film companies all have several subsidiaries, some for producing and distributing art films, and some for specializing in independent films. At most, it would just attract the envy of other film companies.

Facebook's influence and potential are far greater. Those who are drawn to its influence are not small fry, but rather internet giants or upstarts like Microsoft and Yahoo.

Don't underestimate Yahoo. Although it was severely damaged by the dot-com bubble and its market value dropped by 90%, it is still worth over $10 billion.

Its development over the past two years has allowed it to recover, and its market value has now rebounded.

So keep the news under wraps for as long as possible. Even if Facebook loses money and has to invest one or two hundred million dollars every year, they have to hold on and hold on for as long as they can.

Only when you truly withstand the pressure should you choose to go public and embrace capital, so that you can at least gain greater influence.

To be honest, Eric really didn't want to take the step of going public, because once listed, he would inevitably be subject to the control of Wall Street, whose short-sightedness is notorious worldwide.

Even though Eric used to work in the entertainment industry, he still knows a bit about things.

Too many companies are ruthlessly abandoned simply because their annual profits did not meet Wall Street's expectations.

He recalled an online shopping platform whose quarterly earnings were 2 cents less per share than Wall Street expected. As soon as the results were released, the rating agency downgraded the rating, and the stock price plummeted by more than half.

It was later revealed that the company's stock had been maliciously shorted by hedge funds, with the number of shares sold being more than ten times the actual amount they owned!

Although the transaction was voided due to the inability to complete the settlement on time, the company's stock had already plummeted, and it was finished just like that!

Dealing with Wall Street is no different from trying to negotiate with a tiger.

Shaking his head, Eric thought to himself that he had to think this through carefully and find a better way. He estimated that he would definitely be targeted by next year at the latest.

Bringing his thoughts back, Eric said, "Check Michael Jackson's account and see if he's activated it?"

The tech guy quickly identified the target: "Boss, found it! 18 followers, and the account was registered after 9 PM last night. Registering so late, how did it manage to gain so many followers!"

Tell me your ID.

Eric then searched for MJ's Facebook page, clicked on it, and found a few photos and two posts.

The first post featured several iconic stage poses: "My fans, it's so nice to meet you all on Facebook. Thank you so much for your continued support. Without you, there would be no Michael Jackson. I hope I can continue to walk with you all."

The second item is a promotion for the new song, along with a Billboard chart entry, currently at number 98.

This data does not include any sales figures; it is only data from radio broadcasts a few days ago and accounts for a small percentage of Billboard's algorithm.

However, the fact that it broke into the top 100 based solely on radio data already demonstrates the popularity of "Rolling in the Deep".

The comments below had already exceeded a thousand, which Eric found somewhat strange. The majority of people joining Facebook now should be young people, and they shouldn't be the main group of MJ fans.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a bunch of trolls attacking people, and the two sides were hurling insults at each other.

Fitz leaned over to take a look, and before Eric could speak, he offered his suggestion.

"Boss, there are a lot of people this time. If we want to ban their accounts, we need to find a reasonable excuse. I have a suggestion."

"explain."

"Have Jackson post an update first to restrain the fans."

"Then we officially remind everyone to speak responsibly, and at that point, most people will restrain themselves."

"Let the tech team create a few more fake accounts to stir up trouble and incite the anger of these trolls. If they utter even half a swear word, they'll be permanently banned!"

Eric turned around abruptly and gave Fitzheisenberg a careful look.

"I never would have guessed, Fitz. You can't judge a book by its cover."

Fitz chuckled and scratched his head: "Actually, besides tinkering with technology, I have another hobby."

"What is it?"

"fishing!"

(End of this chapter)